Genesis 13:5 - 15:21
Matthew 5:27 - 48
Psalm 6:1 - 10
Proverbs 1:29 - 33
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
skip to main |
skip to sidebar
This is a tool to help you read through the Bible in a year. Each day there is a reading from The Old Testament, The New Testament, Psalms, and Proverbs. There is also a place to add comments on what you've read. Just click on the date and you will see any comments posted. Click the scripture verses to read the passage.
Blog Archive
-
▼
2009
(361)
-
▼
January
(31)
- January 31, 2009 (Day 31)
- January 30, 2009 (Day 30)
- January 29, 2009 (Day 29)
- January 28, 2009 (Day 28)
- January 27, 2009 (Day 27)
- January 26, 2009 (Day 26)
- January 25, 2009 (Day 25)
- January 24, 2009 (Day 24)
- January 23, 2009 (Day 23)
- January 22, 2009 (Day 22)
- January 21, 2009 (Day 21)
- January 20, 2009 (Day 20)
- January 19, 2009 (Day 19)
- January 18, 2009 (Day 18)
- January 17, 2009 (Day 17)
- January 16, 2009 (day 16)
- January 15, 2009 (Day 15)
- January 14, 2009 (day 14)
- January 13, 2009 (Day 13)
- January 12, 2009 (Day 12)
- January 11, 2009
- January 10, 2009
- January 9, 2009
- January 8, 2009
- January 7, 2009
- January 6, 2009
- January 5, 2009
- January 4, 2009
- January 3, 2009
- January 2, 2009
- January 1, 2009
-
▼
January
(31)
Yesterday, Bill showed a video that had different people giving their thoughts on how ridiculous church seemed to them. If you didn't get to see it, here is the link:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bCCQ-oKkU-E&eurl
I thought it was a great video that gave some insight into how wide the gap is between what a church does on Sunday and how regular people feel about it. My favorite part was the guy that says "Who could possible want to sing group songs together on a Sunday morning". I have been thinking that for years. Church seems so lame to me without the real life that Jesus brings. Religion makes me nauseous!
I think that when a church gets stuck just going through the motions and trying to keep up with the schedule of events that it has set before itself to expand it's territory, it becomes a series of rituals that looks really weird to the average person who could care less about church.
I've been guilty of this plenty of times. I forget about the #1 purpose behind what I am doing and I get caught up the details. Eventually I miss the mark that I was shooting for because I was too focused on one particular event... rather than the main goal.
This is really what sin is. "Sin" is a weird word. I don't like it. It's not a word we use in our everyday language. It really only fits into a church setting in our current culture. "Sin" is really just anything that misses the mark that God has set before us. There is no document anywhere on this Earth that contains every possible sin. We can invent new sins everyday. We're really good at this! Every time God has a way of doing something and we choose another way, that's sin.
I say all that to bring this verse out of Matthew that was in our daily reading:
Matthew 5:48
But you are to be perfect, even as your Father in heaven is perfect.
Man, this verse has to screw so many people up! I think this is how unchurched people feel about churched people. There is this tension between the two that one side feels they are being attacked for not going to church and being "heathens" and the other side is looking at the "heathens" as diseased people who need the church badly. This tension really sucks! What Jesus is saying here is "If your going to do life without me, you have to be perfect on your own, to the same extreme that God is perfect. You can never miss the mark!"
The other thing Jesus said in Matthew today was this:
Matthew 5:46-47
If you love only those who love you, what reward is there for that? Even corrupt tax collectors do that much. If you are kind only to your friends, how are you different from anyone else? Even pagans do that.
Bill said yesterday that we shouldn't hang out with unchurched people simply as a goal of "saving" them, but we should love them... whether they ever come to Christ or not. We should be friends with them and share our lives with them and laugh with them and love them for who they are as a created person in the beautiful image of God! (this is my paraphrase of what he said) I love this! It's so true... and it is something that can't be faked. I think that when a church is really in love with Jesus, it can't help but love people... because Jesus loved people sooooooooo much and it seemed like he would much rather skip church and go hang out with regular people that he would want to hang out and discuss theology with some screwed up Pharisees.
My goal this year is to make some new friends in this community with people outside of our church and become REAL friends to them... with out pushing my faith on them. I want to love more unchurched people than I do right now. I pray that God will help draw me to these people... the same way that Jesus was drawn to them and to love them unconditionally.
I just heard someone speak on this passage on Matthew and got so much out of it because he put it in context. It meant so much more to them in that day than we can know just by reading it. If you can, always try & find out the context of what Jesus is saying, it always helps me see his heart and what he is saying a little more. Its awesome.
ReplyDelete